A Relaxing First Sunday

What a wonderful and restful Sunday I had today.

I slept another 10 hours last night, I didn't realize my body was so exhausted. I mosied about the house a bit, fussed the cats (becoming quite the usual routine now), and had cereal. Janice was up as well and invited me to take Zeke for a walk. I figured since I hadn't been to the gym in two days, it was good to get a workout even if it was a mild walk. The mild walk ended up being 2 hours! It was a super warm today, not as bad as yesterday though (reached 100 degrees and didn't even cool in the evening). I'd say it was about 90 degrees today with a nice breeze, so it didn't feel too bad. We walked down the hill to Schenley Park. According to Google maps, it's about 2.2. miles from Janice's house. Check out the wikipedia page for Schenley park.

Schenley Park
I'm so bummed I didn't bring my camera. I would describe Schenley as an outdoor enthusiast's oasis in the middle of a city. Within minutes of entering the park, you're surrounded by lush green trees, small creeks, gorgeous cobblestone bridges, and the lovely sounds of chirping birds and robins. Ugh I'm so mad I didn't bring my camera, but it gives me an excuse to go back and take pics. Here is a nice pic I grabbed off the web.

Gorgeous cobblestone bridge in Schenley Park

While we were walking, Janice and I saw dozens of robins and at one point, I could smell sweet, succulent raspberries and blackberries. I don't know if someone was cooking or eating them, but they smelled glorious. I'm determined to make some kind of berry pie/dessert this week as a result.

Janice and I were exhausted coming back - all sweaty and sticky from the walk. Even poor Zeke took a few breaks on the way back because he was tired,too. And he's a 6 month puppy with tons of energy and endurance, so that's saying something.

We got back, relaxed, and let our aching feet take a break. Janice went to her sister's and I did some laundry. I got a bit restless and was in need of some retail therapy, so I walked up the street and hopped on the 61C bus outside the Giant Eagle to Squirrel Hill.

Squirrel Hill
Squirrel Hill is a lovely residential neighborhood just 10 minutes by bus and 5 minutes  by car from Janice's. It's got cute shops, boutiques, stores, and very walkable. It's one of the nicest areas in Pittsburgh actually. Here's the wikipedia page for Squirrel Hill if you're interested.

Squirrel Hill

I got off the bus and walked over to Avalon Exchange. It's similar to Crossroads in CA, where people buy and sell used/like new clothing of good brand names. I didn't expect to buy anything, but as soon as I walked in, for some reason (I swear I had no control over my body), I darted to the shoes section. Maybe it's because the shoes I was wearing are super worn out (but they're so comfy!)  Before I knew it, I had four or five pairs in my hand and were trying them on. I settled on a pair of nice, shiny black flats with peeptoe and a small but comfortable heel. For all you ladies out there, you know how hard it is to find black, comfortable flats. My justification for buying them was for work, but I have a feeling I'll wear these for non-work situations as well. Upon leaving, the guy at the register gave me a flyer for Dollar Days, in a couple weeks hundreds of items will be only $1...Janice and I will be back soon... so stay tuned for Avalon part 2! hahah!

Avalon was the only shop open, so I decided to find a Giant Eagle close by and do some grocery shopping. I got some essentials for the week and waited for the bus. I thought "oh gosh how long do I have to wait " (the buses in pittsburgh are notorious for being late and having a mind of their own essentially when it comes to arriving on time) and 10 seconds later, there it was :) At Giant Eagle, I indulged in a small ice cream. I was enjoying it so much on the bus I almost forgot to ring the bell to get off at my stop.

A relaxing evening
The day cooled down considerably by evening. We had a beautiful pink sunset and it was so nice, I decided to sit out on Janice's porch. I had homemade lemonade, leftover Salpicon (which tastes even better the day after fyi), and called Nick, my mom, and Carrie (one of my good friends from middle and high school). What felt like only an hour of people watching and thinking about what a nice weekend I had, it was dark (around 9:30 pm) and Janice was walking up the steps with Zeke. We chatted for a bit, I showed her my shoes, and she asked if I wanted ice cream. She had ice cream (since I endulged earlier) and I bought a yummy otis spunkermeir (is that how it's spelled?) cookie. It was such a nice night to walk...I think it's the first night of many where I haven't been in a perpetual state of stickiness.

Sydney having a nice stretch upon my shopping return

Janice's lovely porch... I relaxed on the one in the far back

A yummy dinner of Salpicon and homemade, fresh lemonade

View outside Janice's house in Greenfield

My new shoes =) from Avalon Exchange

I only planned on having this being a short post, but looks like I got carried away. Anyways, I've got to go put my laundry in the dryer and prepare my lunch for tomorrow... got to be in at 8:15 am tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

My first Saturday in Pittsburgh

You may have read the title of this post and asked, "wait, she's been there three weeks now, how is it that this is her first Saturday?!" Well, I wasn't actually in Pittsburgh these first two weekends (look out for posts tomorrow or Monday), so this is my first official weekend here.

Anyway, I had such a lovely day I figured it was worth posting while still fresh in my mind.

One of PNC co-workers named Hang (pronounced "hung") is from Vietnam and we're cube buddies. Everyday at lunch we talk about different countries, traveling, and what we prepared for lunch that day. We've been chatting for several days now about getting together and she was kind enough to invite me to her home this evening for a delicious Vietnamese meal. In exchange, to show her how yummy authentic Mexican food is, I brought a Mexican appetizer. Let's start at the beginning of the day...

I woke up pretty exhausted. I didn't sleep very well this week because I went to bed late and woke up pretty early. I've been getting 6-7 hours of sleep, but that's really not enough for me to function. So, after watching Life As We Know it,  I slept a glorious, uninterrupted 9 hours last night. But I woke up a bit groggy. Anyways, after giving Quincy and Sydney some morning fusses, I showered and headed down to the local Giant Eagle to pick up groceries for the Mexican appetizer, Salpicón (pronounced sal - P-cone). It's essentially shredded beef flank, tomatoes, queso fresco (a soft, unaged, feta-like cheese), avocado, peas, potatoes, and cilantro. Here's the link to the recipe I used (it's from my mom's website in case you're curious).

I headed off to Giant Eagles around 11 am and managed to find most of the ingredients except for the queso fresco. Pittsburgh doesn't have a big Latino population, so I wasn't really expecting to find queso fresco, so I used whole milk mozzarella instead. Shopping for ingredients, I couldn't help but whine a little bit at seeing the $1.99/each sign for avocados....oh how I miss California produce prices!!

I came back around noonish and started cooking. It's been a RIDICULOUSLY hot week here in Pittsburgh (100 degrees today and with the humidity, it feels even hotter) so within minutes of cooking, I found myself sweaty already and coming  back up to my room to cool down. We don't have A/C in the house, just in our rooms. I had the meat on the stove cooking and in the meantime, I prepared the tomatoes, potatoes (haha it rhymes!), peas, and mozzarella, so when the meat was done, all I'd have to do is mix. I was nervous about the meat cooking all the way through but i think I got it at perfect timing. wasn't too tough and not too soft, maybe medium? I don't know... I just went by a rule of thumb using the face test. Once the meat had cooled, I shredded the meat and prepped the salad so it was ready to go.

I was looking at how to get to Hung's house and noticed I'd have to take two buses, and the next bus didn't come for another hour. Janice was kind enough to let me borrow her car (which took only 10 minutes compared the 30 estimated minutes with the buses). I got lost twice going there but eventually arrived around 4:30.

Hung and her husband Greg have a lovely apartment here in Pittsburgh - it's filled with all kinds of neat souvenirs from around the world and has lots of character. Hung showed me how to make spring rolls, even though naturally, mine looked more like burritos. She gave me some good tips on how to roll and seal them so they cook nicely. We then fried them and chatted. Our meal was so good - homemade spring rolls with a spicy cucumber-fish sauce and another spicy sauce, homemade beef pho (traditional Vietnamese soup), and of course the Salpicón I made. Their neighbor later joined us as well and he enjoyed the food,too. Here are some pics of our meal

Frying the spring rolls in corn oil 

My first bite of the veggie-shrimp spring roll.... SO DELISH!

Salpicón - a very refreshing summer meal, it made me homesick while I prepared it ;(

Yummy spring rolls again... I had at least three or four

Cucumber, fish sauce, jalapeno pepper, and garlic dipping sauce for the egg rolls

Hung's scrumptious homemade beef pho, whose broth was flavored with ox tail...mmmm!

After dinner, Greg whipped up some really yummy strawberry sorbet after I raved about how awesome the Vitamix is and the different kinds of desserts you can make with them. Here's a pic

Greg's homemade strawberry sorbet...mmm! so refreshing

After dessert, Greg, Hung, their neighbor and I played a very cool trains game. I can't remember the name but essentially you try to build train tracks across the U.S. and the person that builds more tracks, gets more points, and therefore wins. My tracks ran from Seattle to NY and El Paso to Denver. I think I got third or second place, I'm not really sure but it was super fun. I forget how fun boardgames can be... you're never too old to play them in my opinion!

I left around 9:30 pm, so a solid four hours! I had a really great time and I couldn't have pictured a better Saturday night. I should have taken a pic of the three of us... perhaps I will next time we hang out :)

Hope you had a wonderful Saturday, too!

I'm still here!!

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for not posting in a while. I have two posts lined up describing my first two weekends here, all I have to do is write the second one and upload some photos/videos.

Hope you're well! Thanks for your patience :)